SEATTLE -- The family of convicted murderer Amanda Knox has vowed to win her freedom despite last week's guilty verdict.

Knox's murder case in Italy has made international headlines.

Her father, Curt Knox, says he's not sure if diplomacy can help free his daughter, but he hopes her appeal will.

"She kind of snapped back to the way we know Amanda," he said.

"She was amazingly upbeat," said stepmother Cassandra Knox. "You know, when we cry, she cries. But there were no tears. We managed to laugh a little. We managed to sing a little. Her head is in a really great spot. She's not dark at all, not depressed. She believes her attorneys did a good job and that they will continue to do a good job for her."

Curt Knox says when he left Perugia, Amanda Knox had regained her positive attitude and was looking forward to the appeals. But she is devastated by the verdict, he says; she knows she is innocent and cannot understand why people won't believe her.

He says he is not critical of the Italian justice system, but he has strong words for Italian prosecutor Guilano Mignini who told the Christian Science Monitor "(the Americans) are saying there's not enough proof to convict these two kids, but how is it possible to argue that? The evidence was scrutinized by no less than 19 judges. This is about unacceptable interference."

"I would offer a response -- the leaking of false information," Curt Knox said. "And my personal opinion is he's an instigator of some of it, either the prosecutor's office or, potentially, the police."

Amanda Knox was sentenced to 26 years for killing her British roommate Meredith Kercher. It is not the life sentence the prosecutor had requested. Her father believes that means there was some doubt about her guilt.

And he hopes when her mother, Edda Mellas meets with the U.S. ambassador in Rome on Friday, that American diplomats will carefully monitor the appeals process.

"I want to believe it's going to be an impartial appeals process, but I want somebody to be watching to be certain it is impartial," Curt Knox said.

But Italian parliament member Walter Verini visited Knox in prison this week and claimed she told him she "still has faith in the Italian courts. The trial was carried out correctly. My rights were respected."

Curt Knox says those were not the words of his daughter.

"This is once again one of the misreportings of how conversations go with her, or anything associated with her," he said.

What Amanda Knox said to Verini, Curt Knox said, was " I think my attorneys did an amazing job supporting my side of the case."

"End of story," Curt Knox said.

Curt Knox admits his frustration over the verdict boiled over.

"I just couldn't understand it. It was just pure anger," he said.

Now the family's priority is to make sure the appeals process is fair.

Amanda Knox's mother is still in Italy, and her father will return in January so that someone will always be there for her.

PERUGIA, Italy - Amanda Knox told The Associated Press from her jail cell Sunday that she is scared but hopeful eight days after an Italian court sentenced her to 26 years in prison for the murder of her British roommate.

"I am scared because I don't know what is going on," the 22-year-old American student said during a 10-minute visit by two Italian lawmakers, prison officials and a pair of reporters in Capanne prison on the outskirts of Perugia.

Knox has been jailed for two years since she was arrested a few days after the slaying of Meredith Kercher in the house the two students shared in this Umbrian university town.

"I am waiting and always hoping," Knox said, switching from English into Italian for the delegation. "I don't understand many things, but I have to accept them, things that for me don't always seem very fair."

Sitting on her bed in the 9-square-meter (96.88-sq. feet) cell when the visitors arrived, the Washington State woman said "I was feeling horrendous" after the Dec. 5 verdict that she was guilty of murder and sexual assault.

"The guards helped me out. They held me all night," she said.

Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007, in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox while the two were studying in the medieval town of Perugia in central Italy. Prosecutors said the Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.

Knox's Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was convicted of the same charges as her and given a 25-year-sentence. After the verdict, he was transferred to another prison. Both insist they are innocent.

Defendants in Italian trials can appeal pursue appeals, and Knox's lawyers have expressed hope she will be acquitted in an appeals trial.

Knox looked relieved when one of her visitors, Italian parliamentary deputy Rocco Girlanda, recounted the unrelated case of a young man also convicted of murder at the first trial level but exonerated in the appeals trial.

In Italian jails, inmates can wear their own clothing, and Knox wore a gray-and-white-flecked turtleneck sweater, black legging pants, white socks and black slippers. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

The visitors, who included a reporter from the Italian news agency ANSA, were not allowed to ask Knox questions about the trial itself.

Instead Knox spoke about her affection for her family and her determination to continue her university studies, the reason why she came to Perugia in the first place a few months before the Nov. 2, 2007, slaying.

"I believe in my family. They are telling me to stay calm," Knox said. Her family, and a senator from her home state, Maria Cantwell, have spearheaded a vigorous campaign to convince Italian authorities she is innocent.

The visit was arranged by Fondazione Italia USA, which promotes close relations between the two countries, in an effort to heal any rift over accusations that Italy's justice system is unfair.

"My family is the most important thing for me. I also miss going to classes," she said. "I miss stimulating conversations."

She said she is in contact with her professors. "We are trying to work out how I can talk to them," she added, noting that while she can write letters from prison, e-mail access is forbidden.

Her cell includes two beds - she shares it with another woman, who has been identified by other lawmakers in previous visits as a 53-year-old American woman from New Orleans who is serving a four-year sentence for a drug conviction. For privacy reasons, Knox declined to talk about her cellmate.

The cell also includes a private bathroom with shower, toilet and bidet.

The visitors were not allowed to bring cameras or tape recorders.

Knox said she doesn't watch TV or read newspapers. But there are TV sets in the prison.

The prison was decked out for the holidays, with Christmas trees. During a short tour, the delegation saw a hairdressers, whose services inmates can use once a week. A ping-pong table is among the recreation facilities.

The American stood the entire time of the visit, which took place shortly before lunch time in the prison.

I hope now that they have been convicted though, the media will continue to cover them. I fear, they will be not as "big" of a story for the media now that she has been convicted.The sensationalism of the story doesn't seem to be as great. Let's hope this is not the case.

Amanda Knox prosecutor convicted Giuliano Mignini, the chief prosecutor in the Meredith Kercher trial, has been convicted of abuse of office and bugging the phones of journalists.

By Nick Squires in RomePublished: 5:51PM GMT 22 Jan 2010

Mr Mignini, who succeeded in having the American student Amanda Knox jailed for 26 years for murdering her British flatmate in Perugia in 2007, was convicted in relation to a separate case regarding a notorious serial killer known as the Monster of Florence.

He was sentenced by a Florence court to a year and four months in prison, but will remain free pending the two stages of appeal available to him under Italian law and will be allowed to continue working.

Knox, 22, who was found guilty last month with her former boyfriend, Raffale Sollecito, 25. While Mr Mignini's conviction has no direct bearing on the Kercher case, it will provide ammunition for Knox's supporters in the United States, who have questioned the conduct of the investigation and whether Mr Mignini was fit to lead it.

Knox's friends and family were incensed by Mr Mignini's suggestions that the murder of Miss Kercher, of Coulsdon, Surrey, was the result of a group sex game fuelled by Hallowe'en fantasies.

Knox and Sollecito are appealing the guilty verdicts but remain behind bars.

The court in Florence also convicted on similar charges Michele Giuttari, the police officer who led the investigation into the Monster of Florence murders.

Now a successful crime novelist, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail but is also expected to appeal.

Between 1968 and 1985 a serial killer attacked more than a dozen young lovers in cars in the countryside around Florence, shooting or hacking them to death. The murderer was never caught. The killings inspired Thomas Harris's best-selling book Hannibal.

Rome, Italy (CNN) -- Jurors believed American Amanda Knox played a role in the slaying of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, but thought the death came about without any premeditation or animosity, according to a report released Thursday.

The 427-page report, written by Judge Giancarlo Massei and Assistant Judge Beatrice Cristiani, explains the reasons behind jurors' determination in December that Knox was guilty in the November 2007 stabbing death of exchange student Kercher while the two roomed together in Perugia, Italy.

The report blames "random contingencies" and "the combination of various factors" for Kercher's death.

"It is a crime that happened ... without any planning, without any animosity or rancorous feeling against the victim that in some way could be seen [as] a preparation and predisposition to the crime," it said.

Knox, 22, of Seattle, Washington, was sentenced to 26 years in prison for Kercher's death. Knox's ex-boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, was sentenced to 25 years. A third man, Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede, was tried separately and was initially sentenced to 30 years, but an appeals court later reduced that to 16 years.

Knox and Sollecito's appeals are expected this year. Both have denied involvement in Kercher's death.

"We're still perusing" the report, said David Marriott, a Seattle attorney representing Knox's family. "Amanda's lawyers in Italy are still reading through and reviewing the motivations and we'll discuss it with the family at a later point."

During the 11-month trial of Knox and Sollecito, prosecutors argued Knox was a resentful American so angry with her British roommate that she exacted revenge during a twisted sex misadventure game at the students' home. They said Knox directed Sollecito and Guede to hold Kercher down as Knox played with a knife before killing her.

Defense attorneys for Knox and Sollecito said Guede acted alone. Knox testified in court that she was not home at the time of the slaying. She told jurors during her trial that she is not a "killer."

However, jurors rejected both of those theories, according to Thursday's report. They found Guede the main instigator -- not Knox, as prosecutors hypothesized.

The jurors believed that Guede went into Kercher's room and attempted to have sexual contact with her, but Kercher pushed him away. Knox and Sollecito then came into the room and attempted to help Guede have "his way" with Kercher, the report said. Sollecito held Kercher while Guede fondled her, the report said, but things spiraled out of control.

Sollecito poked Kercher with a knife, inflicting one wound measured at 4 cm (1.5 inches), and Knox poked her with a bigger knife after she screamed, inflicting a larger 8-cm (3-inch) wound, jurors found.

"The most plausible hypothesis is that Rudy decided by himself to enter Meredith's room," the report said. "The reaction and refusal of the girl must have been heard by Amanda and Raffaele, who actually were probably disturbed and intervened, given the unfolding of events. They backed Rudy, whom they allowed to enter the house" and ultimately became Kercher's killers because of events that followed, according to the judges.

All three, the jurors believed, were under the influence of drugs. "The motive is therefore of erotic sexual violent nature, which originating from Rudy's choice of evil, found its active collaboration from Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito."

The above was bolded by me. So this is the jury's theory? Unbelievable!

I hear you Tish. It's hard to defend the Italian justice system when the prosecutor has a shady past and the jury sleeps through key parts of the trial. I would say that both Knox's innocence and the prosecutor's theory are much more likely than the jury's theory. I personally tend to think that Guede was solely responsible.

I am outraged over Amanda's conviction.... it just makes me even more ill after I read the clips from the jurors' report..... SOMETHING has to be done about this injustice.... corrupt prosecutor and jurors who sleep through testimony. Oh, that's fair. That report doesn't even make sense.

Kinda makes you even more glad you live in a country that actually values it's justice system, huh?

Piper wrote:"They found no malice, no planning"....wouldn't the scenario of holding someone down and poking them with a knife be considered malice?

If that scenario is not malice, I don't know what is. I guess it is lucky for Amanda that the jury felt that way or they would have sentenced her to life. Unfortunately, I don't think there was any way that jury was going to go all the way against that prosecutor and find Amanda not guilty.

ROME - The family of Amanda Knox has asked lawyers to begin their appeal of the former Seattle student's murder conviction in Italy after reviewing the court's motivation for the guilty verdict.

The Italian judges who convicted Knox and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito in December issued the reasons behind the ruling this week in a 427-page document that Amanda's family said "doesn't make any sense."

The judges wrote that they found no planning or animosity toward the victim, British student Meredith Kercher. They saw the killing as a result of accidental circumstances in what had started as a sexual assault by another man, Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivorian also convicted for the 2007 murder.

Knox's family said in a statement Thursday night that "there is a lot of conjecture in these motivations," and that "there is a substantial basis for the appeal."

Amanda Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, said their attorneys will be going through the judge's conclusion "line by line, and anything that is disputable will be disputed."

Amanda Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the murder, and Sollecito was sentence to 25 years.

In an interview with KOMO News' Kathi Goertzen, Mellas called the judges' theories about the crime "ludicrous."

"The document, you know, talks about what a good student and person both Amanda and Raffaele are, how they had no prior histories, and then they happened to be walking that day, hook up with a guy they didn't know - who was kind of a drifter - and commit this crime," said Amanda's mother, Edda Mellas.

"I mean, it's just really ludicrous. It doesn't make any sense."

Amanda's father, Curt Knox, added: "They say there is no premeditation, but yet they found her guilty of carrying a knife from Raffaele's house to her house, and then back to Raffaele's house. So there is just a perfect example of inconsistency in this motivation."

"I don't know how they came up with (the theory), but there's no evidence to support it," he added.

Mellas said the judges' theories contradict the theories of the prosecutor, and that there is no evidence to support either scenario.

"During the trial you know we dealt with what they were calling the fantasies of the prosecutor - he was making up all kinds of stories," Mellas said. "And now we have different stories that don't have any evidence to back them up."

All of which sets the stage for an appeal, Knox's parents said.

"Right now the attorneys are going through (the judge's conclusion) with a fine-toothed comb. The information that we have now is very encouraging because of all the inconsistencies, the conjectures, that are built into this," Curt Knox said.

"It is almost overwhelming - the amount of stuff that is there that can be argued for an appeal," Mellas said. "That's what's so encouraging to us. There's so much that's unsupported or ... they say one thing at one point in time, and then they counter it with something totally different at another point in time."

"The lawyers said they will go through it line by line, and anything that is disputable will be disputed," she said.

Added Curt Knox: "In the long run, the truth will come out - Amanda had nothing to do with this."

NEW YORK (CBS) The Italian newspaper LaRepubblica and some Italian national television networks are reporting tonight a new version of events in the controversial Amanda Knox murder case in Perugia, Italy.

PICTURES: Verdict In Italy

Knox, 22, and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, were convicted ofthe murder of Meredith Kercher, along with a third man, Rudy Guede. Sollecito's attorneys, in conducting their own investigation, have interviewed a former cellmate of Rudy Guede.

Guede, 23, allegedly admitted to his cellmate that Amanda and Raffaele were not with him when Meredith Kercher was murdered.

PICTURES: Verdict In Italy

Rudy Guede in his own trial had told the court that both Amanda and Raffaele were there and participated in the murder of the 21-year-old British student.

In the dramatic new statement Guede's cellmate claims that Rudy Guede told him there was another person with him but it was not Amanda or Raffaele.

The cellmate's testimony was videotaped and submitted to the prosecutor's office in Perugia.

Valter Biscotti, a lawyer for Rudy Guede, however, points out: "My client has never mentioned this aspect of the story."

Knox is currently serving a 26-year sentence. Sollecito is serving 25. Guede is serving 16. All three are appealing their convictions.

I hope this is true that Rudy Guede did tell his cellmate Amanda and Raffaele weren't there... because I truly believe they weren't.

Amanda and Raffaele should not be in prison convicted of Meredith's murder. I understand Meredith's family will be disappointed, but I think they just need to blame someone for their loss... and they were convinced by the prosecutor that Amanda and Raffaele were part of it.

I honestly don't know how Meredith's family could look at the facts, and actually believe Amanda and Raffaele are guilty..... but then I have never been in their shoes.

The Amanda Knox case took another twist Thursday as a co-defendant in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher denied he ever said that Knox was not at the murder scene.

In a letter to Italian TV station Mediaset, Rudy Hermann Guede pointed the finger of blame for Kercher's killing directly at Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

Guede denied he told a prison cellmate that Knox and Sollecito weren't at the murder scene and had nothing to do with her killing.

In the letter, Guede spoke of the "horrible assassination" of Kercher by his two co-defendants, Sollecito and Knox, according to Mediaset.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted in December of killing Kercher in the Perugia apartment she and Knox shared. The prosecution claimed that Kercher was stabbed to death during a sex game.

Guede was convicted in an earlier fast-track trial. All three deny wrongdoing and are appealing their convictions.

Over the weekend, one of Guede's prison cellmates, Mario Alessi, claimed that Guede had told him that Knox and Sollecito weren't at the scene the night of the murder and had nothing to do with Kercher's death.

Alessi made the stunning revelation in a formal videotaped statement that has been submitted to the prosecutor's office in Perugia.

In his statement, Guede's cellmate claims that Guede told him there was another man with him at Kercher's home on the night of the murder, but it was not Knox or her ex-boyfriend, Sollecito.

According to the cellmate, Guede said the other man killed Kercher while Guede was in another room of the house.

But in his own letter to the media, Guede called Alessi a "sick mind" and said he had never confided anything to him.

Guede's lawyer, Nicodemo Gentile, confirmed the contents of the letter when reached Thursday by The Associated Press.

He stressed that Guede, in referring to Knox and Sollecito's alleged involvement, was merely citing what the Perugia court had determined in convicting them.

Knox is serving a 26-year sentence for Kercher's murder. Sollecito is serving a 25-year sentence, and Guede was sentenced to 16 years following an appeal.

The attorneys for Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito will appeal the December 4 2009 conviction of their respective clients for the November 1 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. They must file for an appeal within 45 days of March 4, the date on which they received the required 'motivazione report', written by six judges— including Judge Giancarlo Massei,— which explains the grounds on which the Corte d'Assise convicted the American and Italian students. The report, in Italian, is 427 pages. Knox is working on the English translation— although two of her attorneys are Italian.

In a CBS News interview, the mother of Amanda Knox, Edda Mellas, says she feels encouraged by what she knows of the report, which attorneys are reviewing page by page. "We knew it was going to be hard to try and justify the wrongful conviction of somebody that's innocent. And so we knew that there would be huge holes... and in the report itself, our lawyers are seeing large amounts of things that they can fight in the appeal, so that's really encouraging," said Mellas.

Knox's lawyers have told Mellas that the judges have contradicted themselves many times in the report. "They [the judges] say one thing and then later on, they say something that's totally opposite to that... and that's not allowed under Italian law. It has to be very clear," Mellas told CBS News. She said there were things brought up in the 'motivation' report that were not brought up in court. This also is not allowed under Italian law.

Mellas has high hopes that the appeal process will lead to her daughter's acquittal. She said that apart from Knox's Italian lawyers, other Italians have told her that the appeal system in Italy works. "It's meant to overturn wrongful convictions like this— we just have to keep hoping that this will get fixed... we just have to keep hoping that will happen," said Mellas. According to lawyers in Perugia, Knox and Sollecito have a strong chance of being acquitted upon appeal.

Amanda Knox Italian Police Bombshell: We Knew She Was Guilty of Murder Without Physical Evidence

March 18, 2010 6:27 AMPosted by Crimesider Staff

CHICAGO (CBS) In Rome, Italy, one street tries to separate fact from fiction.

The Via Tuscolana runs southeast through the city. On one side of the street is the sprawling Cinecitta movie lot. The famed, surrealist director, Federico Fellini worked there. Directly across the road is the imposing Rome office of the Italian forensic police.

Though neighbors, illusion usually stays on one side of the street, reality on the other.

But in the case of Amanda Knox, the American student convicted of murder in Italy last December, the Via Tuscolana apparently failed to separate fantasy from truth. Too many Italian investigators rivaled Fellini as they interpreted, and reinterpreted facts, to suit their own, surrealistic script.

British student Meredith Kercher was killed in her bedroom in Perugia, Italy, on November 1, 2007. Three days after the body was discovered Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were interrogated by police. The next day, the two were arrested and jailed, and eventually, convicted of the murder.

How did Italian police target Knox and Sollecito so quickly? One answer came three months after the arrests. In February 2008, 48 Hours met with Fabio Giobbi, a department head at the Via Tuscolana offices of the forensic police.

Giobbi told 48 Hours he was proud that Knox and Sollecito were arrested before fingerprints, blood, footprints, or DNA were analyzed by his office. Instead, Giobbi explained, the case was solved simply by observing Amanda Knox's behavior.

And what was suspicious about Knox's behavior? What gave her guilt away? Giobbi pointed to three incidents.

But a warning first: in true movie fashion, Giobbi is going to start sounding like a character in a Fellini film, where imagination is the same as everyday reality.

The first "suspicious" Knox incident took place at the crime scene. Giobbi told Knox that he was going to the house next door to talk with people there and ask if anyone witnessed anything unusual the night of the murder. Immediately after hearing that, Amanda Knox broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. Giobbi thought Knox's reaction was troubling because there are no houses next door to the crime scene. So why was she so emotional? Giobbi believes it was because Knox had a guilty conscious.

The second incident happened when Giobbi asked Knox to follow him into the apartment below the crime scene. Both Giobbi and Knox had to put protective covers over their shoes before entering. Knox got hers on first, and then showed off that fact by performing a hula-hoop motion with her hands on her hips and bragging about how she quick she'd been. To Giobbi, Knox's inappropriate, girlish behavior wasn't a sign of immaturity, but rather a peek inside the craven heart of a killer.

The third incident, according to Giobbi, was the most disturbing. It occurred when the police picked up Rafaele Sollecito for questioning, three days after Kercher's body was discovered. Police located Sollecito at a cafe. It was three in the afternoon and Sollecito was eating a pizza. But Sollecito wasn't alone. Amanda Knox was also sharing the pizza. This so-called "meeting" helped convince Giobbi the couple had acted together in the murder.

"Knox and Sollecito never had a chance," says Paul Ciolino, a CBS News consultant and Chicago private investigator. Ciolino was at the 48 Hours meeting with Giobbi in 2008, and says, "If I had not been there, hearing this for myself, I would have never believed Giobbi would actually believe that eating a pizza was probable cause in a murder case."

Now Knox and Sollecito share murder convictions, which are both being appealed.

Doug Longhini is an investigative producer for 48 Hours | Mystery. He has been covering the Amanda Knox case since November 2007.

MILAN, Italy (CBS) Amanda Knox has won a monetary victory in an Italian court, in a lawsuit for invasion of privacy. The Seattle native, who's serving a 26-year sentence for the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher in November 2007 -- a verdict she is appealing -- was awarded $55,000 in a judgment against an Italian media company for publishing excerpts of Knox's personal notebooks.

The notebooks were confiscated by police in Perugia, Italy when they arrested Knox, and journalist Fiorenza Sarzanini somehow gained access to them, publishing excerpts in several articles and in a book, entitled "Amanda e gli atria" (Amanda and the Others).

The notebooks did not become evidence in Knox's criminal trial. Under Italian law they are considered her private property, and were eventually transferred to the prison where she's held near Perugia.

Knox's Italian lawyer, Carlo dalla Vedova, told CBS News that the finding in Knox's favor is further proof that even though the notebook material was not part of the trial, the jury was negatively influenced by it, and that the prosecution's characterization of her was completely wrong.

Knox, who is appealing her murder conviction, may also appeal Thursday's civil finding. Her lawyers had been seeking about ten times the amount awarded by the judge.

An appeals court said it shaved 14 years off the sentence of a man involved in the murder of Leeds University student Meredith Kercher because he was the only one of the three defendants to apologise to her family.

Rudy Hermann Guede denied killing Ms Kercher, 21, from Surrey, but said he should have done more to help her as she lay bleeding in her room in a Perugia flat she shared with Amanda Knox, the American student from Seattle who was also convicted of her killing, Italian reports said.

The appeals court in December upheld Guede's conviction in an earlier trial for sexual assault and murder but cut his prison sentence to 16 years from 30. By law, Italian courts must give a written explanation of their rulings within a few months of the end of trial.

The ANSA and Apcom news agencies said the appeals court also said that while Guede sexually assaulted the woman, he wasn't the one who stabbed her. Prosecutors said Knox stabbed her roommate in the throat during a sex game involving the three defendants.

In a separate trial which ended late last year, Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted three months ago of the murder.

Knox received 26 years; Sollecito, 25. They deny wrongdoing, and are serving their sentences in Italian prisons while awaiting a possible appeals trial.

Guede "was fully involved not only for being the one who carried out the sexual violence, but also for having held firm the left hand of the victim while she was being fatally wounded," the ruling said, according to ANSA.

He also was the only one among the defendants to apologise to the victim's family, "even if it (the apology) was limited to failure to come to her rescue".

Guede testified during his individual, fast-track trial shortly after the killing saying that he was in the bathroom in the house listening to music when the attack took place. In the days after the murder, Knox, a 21-year-old student at the University of Washington, and Sollecito, 24, gave conflicting statements, saying they smoked cannabis the night of the killing.

Sollecito has said he was at his own apartment in Perugia, working at his computer and didn't remember if Knox spent the whole night with him. Knox has insisted she was not home during the attack. Her DNA was found on the handle of a knife that prosecutors alleged might have been used in the killing; Kercher's DNA was found on the blade.

Giobbi told 48 Hours he was proud that Knox and Sollecito were arrested before fingerprints, blood, footprints, or DNA were analyzed by his office. Instead, Giobbi explained, the case was solved simply by observing Amanda Knox's behavior.

I think they needed to do a little more than observe her behavior before declaring that the case was solved. I agree that they should let the FBI review the evidence.

Last edited by Justice4all on Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:40 pm; edited 1 time in total

"The Trials of Amanda Knox," is a documentary about the West Seattle UW student currently serving a 26-year jail sentence in Italy for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher. The film was released on Great Britain cable TV early January. Google the title and you will find numerous reviews with unshakable takes on the trial based on the evidence presented in the film.

The problem is, there is more than one version of the film. Some versions are more sympathetic to Amanda Knox than others. So, which one will Americans see when it airs here this Sunday, March 28, 8pm, on The Learning Channel?

According to Chris Mellas, Amanda's step-father, there are at least seven versions, and he personally possesses five.

"They contacted our family and wanted our input," said Mellas in an exclusive interview with the West Seattle Herald, referring to the British producers, Eye Films.

"Our initial reaction was 'no.' Then they provided us with little bits (of footage) here and there and our opinions changed a bit. As they investigated more, they found Amanda innocent. The production company felt this wasn’t suitable for a U.K. audience, especially after she was found guilty. The director and filmmaker we were dealing with have been forcibly removed from this production and as a result, the documentary was re-edited and has gone back to its initial focus, that Amanda probably did it. It's been a bitter nasty thing."

Mellas said he believes the version to air here will be a bland compromise. His family makes no money off of the documentary. We will update this story with more details on the documentary.

April 3: Author Barbie Nadeau talks about her new book "Angel Face" which chronicles the Amanda Knox story. The book details tampered evidence, a staged break-in and evidence not heard in the United States.

The Associated Press MILAN -- Italian agencies say the prosecutor in the slaying of a British student in Italy is appealing the sentences against American student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend.

Both defendants were found guilty in the 2007 slaying of Meredith Kercher. Knox, a 22-year-old former University of Washington student, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Raffaelo Sollecito received 25 years.

The news agency ANSA reported Thursday that Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini is seeking to increase the sentences to life in prison, his original request.

ANSA says Mignini was not convinced by the court's reasoning for the lesser sentences. He could not be reached Friday for comment.

PERUGIA, Italy – Lawyers for Seattle student Amanda Knox filed an appeal Saturday against her conviction and 26-year prison sentence for the murder of her British roommate, claiming the prosecution completely botched the case.

The appeal comes just two days after the Italian prosecutors in the case filed their own appeal, seeking a life sentence for Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted in December of murdering Knox's roommate, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, in November 2007. Kercher was found at the home the two shared with a fatal stab wound to the neck.

Knox's 220-page appeal, filed with the of Court of Appeals in Perugia on Saturday morning, is a total repudiation of all the points of the sentence, said Knox's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga from Perugia in an interview with the Seattlepi.com.

"It includes the first days of the interrogation, the DNA and the traces detected with luminol. We reiterate the innocence of Amanda and remain convinced there is not proof of her presence at the scene of the crime," Ghirga said.

Originally the chief prosecutor Giuliano Mignini claimed the motive for the attack on Meredith was because she refused to take part in a drug-fueled orgy with Knox, Sollecito and a fourth person, Ivory Coast-born Rudy Guede.

During the course of the trial, Mignini repeatedly changed his mind about the motive as he sought to explain the murder.

At first he said it was because drugs had driven Knox and Sollecito "crazy." Then he claimed robbery was the motive before settling on a claim that Kercher was killed due to personal animosity between the two young women. He also described Knox as "a natural-born killer."

However, two Italian judges who sat with a jury of six members of the public decided the murder was "without planning, without any animosity or grudge against the victim." Their 427-page written judgment was released six weeks ago.

The judges wrote in their report that the prosecution evidence was "without holes or inconsistencies," but Knox's appeal will contest the verdict and seek to highlight what their legal teams claim are many holes in the case.

Much of the appeal - expected to be heard in October - will question the methodology used for the DNA testing and forensic examinations.

Independent forensic experts have viewed videos of how many pieces of evidence were gathered, logged and handled, and many have been highly critical of the methods used.

They have all raised doubts about the accuracy of a tiny piece of DNA on a knife that connects Knox to the murder scene that was picked out at random by a police officer from a kitchen drawer, according to a report in the telegraph.co.uk.

They will also focus on the only DNA that links Sollecito to the murder scene, a bra-clasp that was initially ignored by police and investigators for more than six weeks. The clasp may have been exposed it to potential contamination during that period, when it lay on the floor as people went in and out of the house.

An application for an independent third-party analysis of the DNA will be made to the appeal court which will be heard by a new judge and jury, together with a new prosecution team. A similar request was made during the original trial but was refused.

Defense lawyers also will argue Knox was a suspect through the entire period and was denied her basic legal rights during the period, and was pressured into making a confession.

Seattle lawyer Ann Bremner, who heads up the group "Friends of Amanda Knox," said the prosecution's request for a life sentence for Knox, filed on Thursday, may have been an attempt to blunt the impact of Knox's appeal.

"When you look at it from the viewpoint of the prosecutor, Mignini, he seems to apparently think this will give him an advantage by coming forward and saying, 'I'm asking for life,'" Bremner said.

"Because the appeal itself for Amanda, of course, attacks the sufficiency of the evidence - there was no forensic evidence to connect her to the case, not a hair, not a fiber, no DNA whatsoever to connect her with this horrible homicide," she added.

SEATTLE - Over the weekend defense attorneys filed an appeal for Amanda Knox's release from an Italian prison. The 209-page document was filed in Perugia on Saturday, two days after prosecutors filed an appeal requesting that Knox's sentence be increased to life in prison.

Last December, Knox was convicted and sentenced to 26 years in prison for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.

Amanda's parents, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas, are continue to fight for their daughter.

"No parent would leave an innocent daughter locked up in a foreign jail, that just doesn't happen," said Mellas. "We're hopeful her conviction will be totally overturned."

KING 5 News caught up with them as they were preparing to hit the media circuit, to talk to the nation about the appeal filed in Perugia on Saturday, which among other requests, asks for a third party review of forensic evidence.

"There's new evidence that's being put in. There's the fact that there is no physical evidence that links her to the crime, there's no motive," said Mellas.

Also looming is an appeal filed by the prosecution asking that Amanda's sentence be upped from 26 years to life.

"We're disappointed by that," said Knox. "It's one where we feel it's almost harrassment of Amanda."

Amanda's parents are now gearing up for what they hope will be an appeals trial this fall. They've put their lives on hold during the first trial and they're prepared to do it again.

"Hopefully she'll get to come home soon," said Knox.

Amanda's parents tell us they are concerned that an appeals trial will likely happen in Perugia with a jury selected from the area, but they say they have no choice but to stay optimistic. Amanda's mother spoke with her Saturday morning. She says Amanda is also trying to stay positive.

Guede's lawyer Nicodemo Gentile said Friday that no date for his appeal has been set before the Court of Cassation. Guede admitted being in the house the night of the murder but denied killing Kercher.

Amanda Knox to give television interviewAmanda Knox's family are in negotiations with television networks to give an interview giving her side of the story.

By Nick Pisa in RomePublished: 3:29PM BST 16 May 2010

Knox, 22, is serving 26 years for the brutal murder of British student Meredith Kercher, 21, who was found semi naked and with her throat slashed in her bedroom.

Talks have been taking place over the last few weeks between American, British and Italian networks.

Knox's Italian lawyer Luciano Ghirga said: "There are talks going on with three TV companies, one from America, Italy and Britain but I'm not sure which ones.

"It's all being handled by the parents and the PR man that they have hired in America – to be honest I am not in favour at all and I would not advise it but they seem to be pretty insistent."

The Knox family have hired PR consultant David Marriott from their home town of Seattle in Washington. He has been at the centre of the negotiations with US channel ABC and Mediaset, the Italian TV company owned by billionaire controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The identity of the British company is not clear but it is thought to be an independent film company who have been given favourable access to the Knox family while making a documentary screened earlier this year on More 4.

A source at Mediaset said: "We have been pushing for an interview with Amanda and we are in talks with her PR consultant but it's all been kept very secret."

Knox is serving her sentence at Perugia's Capanne jail, along with her former boyfriend computer studies graduate Raffaele Sollecito, 25, who was also convicted of murder and given 25 years jail.

Knox is due to make her first public appearance since her conviction on June 1 when she goes on trial accused of slander after she accused police of hitting her during questioning.

She could see a further six years added to her sentence and Mignini has also appealed against the 26 year sentence given to her saying he wants to see it changed to life.

Meredith from Coulsdon, Surrey, was a Leeds University student in Perugia as part of her degree course and she was murdered in November 2007, just two months after she arrived in Italy.

You are welcome Gracie. I agree that Amanda is no Casey Anthony. I know I shouldn't say this, but I think even Baez could have got Amanda acquitted if the case had been tried in our country with the same evidence.

An article appearing in the British Newspaper Telegraph's online edition that Amanda Knox will appear on a TV interview is inaccurate, according to Amanda Knox's stepfather, Chris Mellas, reached in Perugia, Italy by the West Seattle Herald. Such an interview would be of great interest as it would be the first time Knox would have spoken to the public since her murder conviction of her college roommate, Meredith Kercher. Knox is currently serving 26 years in prison for the murder. She is appealing that verdict.

The Telegraph's reporter, Nick Pisa, writes that Knox will appear on TV June 1, and that one of Knox's lawyers is against it.

"The (Telegraph) article is trying to create a controversy out of nothing," Mellas told the West Seattle Herald by phone. "This is a non-issue because there was never a June 1 date set for an interview. There was a request for an interview, but it has been denied by the Ministry of Justice. They are in charge of making this decision, not a judge, because the case is sort of in limbo. There is currently no judge assigned. Otherwise it would be up to a judge whether Amanda would be permitted an interview.

"Pisa wrote that one of Amanda's lawyers, Luciano Ghirga, was completely against the interview and that her family was pushing for it," added Mellas.

"What really happened was that Amanda wanted to have the ability to speak for herself. As far as her family is concerned, whatever Amanda wants, big deal. Why not? We will support it. When we get a new judge, that judge will decide if an interview is permitted.

"if the judge allows it, we will not receive any money from it."

On June 1 a preliminary hearing takes place to decide whether head prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, who prosecuted the murder trial of Ms. Kercher that landed Knox and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito in prison, will prosecute a new slander case against Knox. She accused police of hitting her in the head when they first questioned her for 15 hours at the police station. Mignini was in the room during the questioning. The defense is crying foul, and believes such a trial would be unfair as Mignini is trying to pile on more years to Knox's 26-year sentence she received from his case during the verdict. He had stated publicly he wanted a life sentence for her.

"It's against the law for Mignini to hear the case, but he is doing it regardless," said Mellas. "Mignini is not allowed to act as prosecutor because he is being called as a witness."

PERUGIA, Italy -- Amanda Knox, already convicted of murdering her British roommate in Italy, now is about to face another trial -- this time for slander.

The new trial, set to start Tuesday, could add another six years to Knox's prison sentence if she is found guilty. She currently is serving a 26-year sentence for the November 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher.

The slander charges follow an investigation into Knox's claims that she was beaten by Perugia police during questioning about the killing.

During the murder trial, Knox testified twice that police had beaten her during questioning as part of an effort to get her name Kercher's killer. She also said police called her a "stupid liar" and threatened her with prison.

"They called me a stupid liar; said I was trying to protect someone. I was not trying to protect anyone," she said during the trial. "I didn't know what to respond. They said I left Raffaele (Sollecito)'s home, which I denied, but they continued to call me 'stupid liar.'"

Sollecito, Knox's ex-boyfriend, also was convicted of murder and has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Knox has said she was unable to identify the officers who hit her.

The prosecutor in the case, Giuliano Mignini, said there was no proof of assault and Knox would now be charged with slander in order to protect the good name of the police department.

Mignini was quoted in British media reports as saying, "There was no proof to back up her allegation and to protect the good name of the police department a slander investigation was started and this has now been complete."

Knox's parents, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas, have also been charged with slander for repeating their daughter's claim that police officers had beaten her during questioning.

The trial of Amanda Knox's parents is set for July 6.

Meanwhile, Mignini also has filed an appeal of Knox's 26-year murder sentence, asking that the punishment be increased to life in prison.

And Knox's lawyers have filed their own 220-page appeal. They want her murder sentence reduced or eliminated, claiming that the prosecution completely botched the case and that there is no proof she was at the scene of the crime.

American convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher last year faces new charges of slandering Italian police

John Hooper in Romeguardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 June 2010 17.47 BST

Amanda Knox appeared in court today for the first time since being convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

The 22-year-old American, who received a 26-year sentence in an Italian court in December, faces new charges of slandering the police who questioned her. At her trial she claimed to have been slapped around the head during an all-night interrogation session that ended in her signing a statement that she was at the crime scene.

Kercher, aged 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found dead in the flat she shared with Knox in November 2007. Both women were studying at Perugia's university for foreigners.

Today's hearing marked the start of indictment proceedings, which under Italian law are held behind closed doors. The case has been adjourned until October after Knox's lawyers said they were applying to a higher court to have the judge, Claudia Matteini, removed.

Judge Matteini oversaw the investigation of which Knox's questioning formed part. The American student's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, said outside the court he held Matteini in high regard, but "she is the same one who remanded [Knox] in custody, the one who twice rejected her request to be allowed house arrest."

His application will be considered on June 17. Ghirga said his client had wanted to make a voluntary statement to the court, as allowed by Italian procedure.

He quoted her saying "I didn't want to accuse anyone. I only described how things went. Why are they continuing to accuse me over statements that I have always made?"

Knox's lawyer, who described her as "very tense and worried", added that she was "sad" about the new charges. But her stepfather, Chris Mellas, told reporters: "Amanda is doing pretty good. She is looking forward actually to be able once again to put forward her side of the case and kind of defend herself."

SEATTLE -- In a bizarre twist in the Amanda Knox case, an Italian mobster now claims his brother murdered Meredith Kercher, and not Knox or her former boyfriend.

The Daily Mail in England broke the story with a headline that blares: "'Foxy Knoxy is innocent, my brother killed Meredith': mafia supergrass comes forward as sensational new witness."

In Britain, "supergrass" is slang term used to refer to an informer. The newspaper reports Luciano Aviello, who is currently serving a 17-year sentence for his connection to the mafia, told Knox's lawyers his brother, Antonio Aviello, killed Kercher, and asked him to hide the bloody knife and Kercher's keys.

"The real killer is my brother Antonio. The others are innocent," Luciano Aviello told the newspaper. "I had everything under a little wall behind my house, and covered it with soil and stones. I am happy to stand up in court and confirm all this."

Kercher, who was 21, was found semi-naked with her throat cut in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in Perugia, Italy in 2007.

Luciano Aviello, who is from Naples, said he and his brother were living in Perugia the year Kercher was killed.

Knox, a former University of Washington student and Seattle resident, was convicted of murder in December. She has been sentenced to 26 years in prison. Knox's former boyfriend, Rafaelle Sollecito, was also convicted of murder.

The Daily Mail reports the mobster apparently wrote to the Italian court three times during last year's trial, but was never questioned. The newspaper says Knox's attorneys have interviewed and videotaped Aviello's statement to be presented during her appeal in October.

But investigators face one immediate hurdle: Antonio Aviello is nowhere to be found.

We expect to learn this morning if the presiding judge in Amanda Knox's slander trial will step aside.

Knox's attorneys say Claudia Matteini is prejudice because she also decided Knox should be tried for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher.

Knox is accused of slandering officers when she testified Italian police struck her during questioning. The former University of Washington student is serving a 26-year prison sentence for Kercher's murder.

SEATTLE -- The parents of Amanda Knox faced the start of their own trial Tuesday in Italy, both accused of slander -- a charge Kurt Knox said he believed amounted to harassment by Italian prosecutors.

Kurt Knox and Edda Mellas could face three years in an Italian prison for comments they made to a British newspaper two years ago, recounting what their daughter Amanda told them happened as she was interrogated as a suspect in the murder of her roommate.

"We had stated what Amanda had told us related to her all night interrogation she experienced," Kurt Knox said in an interview with KOMO NewsRadio. "We said that… she told us she was hit, she told us she was pressured, and because of that, the police in Perugia have filed slander charges against Edda and myself."

Tuesday was a pre-trial hearing related to that case, which was then delayed until Oct. 19. Kurt Knox says some of the police that were actually pressing the charges hadn't received their paperwork in time.

Kurt Knox says if they are convicted, they could face three years in prison in and a civil fine.

"To me, it almost feels like harassment, given the nature of what we've dealt with over there," he said.

When asked how they could be charged with slander for comments he made in another country that were just repeated from what his daughter had told him, he replied: "It seems there are thousands of (slander charges) in Italy filed on a yearly basis. I don't know if it's a standard over there versus here in the United States -- just don't know the differences that well."

Amanda Knox is also facing a separate slander trial which could add on six years to her current 26-year sentence if convicted.

Kurt Knox said they are making sure someone is always in Italy while Amanda is in jail -- right now Amanda's mother and sister are in Perugia.

The parents are pinning their hopes on the appeals trial of Amanda Knox's murder conviction, which is set to begin in October.

"Hopefully when we get to the appeals trial, we'll get to bring her home," Kurt Knox said.

In the meantime, Amanda remains hopeful.

"Just knowing that you have no part in the crime and just knowing that the truth will come out; that's what is really the driving force behind her and she's a strong girl," Kurt Knox said.

I agree that the slander charges against Amanda's parents are harassment. I don't know who in their right mind would think that Amanda's parents deserve to spend three years in jail for repeating what their daughter told them.

We better watch we say here and on various blogs or the Italians might charge us with slander.

ROME - Seattle student Amanda Knox said this week she has "terrible moments" while serving a 26-year prison term for the murder of her British roommate but is strengthened by a constant stream of letters from supporters.

Knox made the disclosures in an interview with the glossy Italian news magazine Oggi, which have been widely reported in U.S. and European media, including the Mail Online.

"I try to keep and nurture my faith in the system, but there are terrible moments when I have a real fear of being kept locked away for a crime I did not commit," Knox said during the Oggi interview.

"I am in a surreal situation that I just can’t explain. It’s as if it is happening to someone else."

Meredith Kercher was found semi-naked with her throat slit in a bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in the Italian university city of Perugia in November 2007.

Knox was convicted of the murder in December 2009, along with her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. Ivory Coast resident Rudy Guede also was convicted of the murder in an earlier trial.

Knox told the magazine that she is innocent and did not kill her roommate Meredith Kercher, but she added she has "nothing to regret."

"Here in jail I have understood that sometimes bad things happen to good people," she said. "I find it really hard to accept that my friend Meredith is dead, and I am accused of killing her. It's really hard for me and, at times, the whole thing is much bigger than me."

Knox also described her life in prison during the Oggi interview, saying she cut her hair mostly for practical reasons - "so it dries quicker and I feel the heat less" - but partly as a rebellious gesture "to show how my situation is devastating me."

Knox also added how she had found faith in Perugia's jail, saying: "I go to Mass regularly. I play the guitar and I sing. ... I am a very spiritual person and I need these moments."

Knox said she gets up at about 6 a.m. each day and does yoga, then replies to the steady stream of letters she receives in prison. She estimated she receives about 300 letters a month from friends, family and supporters.

"People tell me not to give up and it is a great support," she said.

She also said she corresponds with her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

"We often write to each other, we give each other strength," Knox said. "We have ended up in a surreal affair that we still don't understand. It's terrible, but at least it unites us. The affection remains from the love we had."

Later in the day she plays volleyball with other inmates, then rests or studies.

Knox said she was aware of recent statements made by a Mafia mobster who claimed that his brother is Kercher's real killer.

But she said she has no great hopes that she will be freed because of the statements.

"I kept calm because the greatest danger is getting hopeful and of believing too much in freedom. "(At the trial) I was really hopeful, and the disappointment was immense."

Knox and her attorneys are slated to be in court in October to appeal her conviction for Kercher’s murder.

While American Amanda Knox continues to languish in an Italian prison after being convicted of killing her British roommate, a former FBI agent has come forward to say Knox’s claims of injustice in the case are undoubtedly true.

Speaking with Ann Curry on TODAY Thursday, Steve Moore, a 25-year veteran of the FBI, said that in examining the case, he has no shadow of doubt that the 23-year-old Knox is innocent.

“The evidence doesn’t just say she didn’t do it; the evidence proved that she couldn’t have done it,” Moore told Curry. “The evidence that was presented in trial was flawed, it was manipulated,” he told Curry. “Some people think some of it was actually planted.”

Never mind the Italian witch hunt -- Amanda Knox is innocentAmanda Knox was convicted of murder in an Italian courtroom nearly a year ago. Her appeal will be heard this fall, and if the case is decided on fact rather than fiction, she will be set free.

By S. Michael ScadronSeptember 15, 2010 Washington

Over the past few years, Perugia, Italy, has been the focus of an international scandal involving the demonization of an American exchange student convicted of murdering her housemate in a drug-fueled orgy. The sex-game scenario is one dreamed up by the prosecutor and embellished in the media, but unsupported by the evidence before the court.

Seattle native Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are spending their third year behind bars, their fate uncertain as the case grinds its way up the appellate ladder. The appeal will be heard this fall. If the case is decided on the facts, Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito will go free because there is no reliable evidence to implicate them in the crime. If the case is decided on some other account, such as protecting the political ambitions of local authorities, they may remain in an Italian prison for more than two decades.